69.8 million families, in this United States, live on Social Security and/or Federal Pension. Those checks cover anywhere from one to —— people/adults and children in a family.

IF OUR government cannot get its act together, 69.8 million families will not get a check (and that includes the military) on the Third of August. What will happen????

1. First, no direct deposit or card to pay that money.

2. No deposit, EQUALS, no money to pay the mortgage, utilities, doctors, gasoline, car repairs, house repairs, food, school clothing, book rental. For one month, we will sit in our HOT homes (my husband has COPD and by the end of the month will most likely be in the hospital.) opening bank statement overdraft fees, and mortgage late payments, and, after the freezer is all melted, canned goods. Not to speak of the student loan that I could not cancel the automatic withdrawal on in time. That would certainly rank under the mortgage, if I could have.

3. The end of the month will see us walking three miles away to have a free dinner at Mother’s Cupboard, well some of us. My husband could not walk that length even in 70 degree weather.

4. I will cancel the MRI for my possible crushed disc, in my back that is causing intense cyatic pain.

5. We will not order medicine that we run out of.

6. We already cancelled our land line but have a contract on the cell, so I guess they just turn it off without payment, but you still owe it.

7. What happens to your health and life insurance premiums? I think I have two months before I am in default and lose my health insurance.

8. Our income is already under $20,000 a year. We have a nineteen year old with one more semester of high school, long story, he wasn’t being homeschooled when we took him, so he had problems. One boy was just deployed to Afghanistan and one boy is working in food service and paying his own student loans and gas and food bills.

9. Just wanted to give you a taste of our world.

MY PROPOSAL:

Every single one of those families need to write to every Congressman, senator, tea party, republican and democrat and send them a bill for the actual and mental damages when this happens. Maybe that will wake them up. Do you know a good Class Action lawyer?

I have been avoiding a discussion of politics here for some time. I have my opinion and you have yours and never the twain shall meet. I know this from eMail discussions with my friend in Massachusetts. Everyone bellieves what they believe.

What I believe right now, is that I can’t afford to buy decent loaf of bread (as opposed to the 99 cent sponge loaf) or gasoline. We had to get JRockGuitarMan a pair of boots and pants. $55.63 later, we “thought” about buying a tank of gas.

We are on a fixed income. My husband has been disabled for eighteen years and will die disabled. He is 56 going on 90. He is bent and gray and mostly holding his chest when he tries to breathe and he will tell you that this staying home and getting paid thing sucks. And, by the way, he only smoked for like a month in his whole life.

For years, every social security raise we got was eaten, in full, by an increase in medicare cost–to the penny. This January 1st, we will get a 2.5% increase. Whoppeee!!! I think I shall travel to Hawaii on it, or buy some wheat flour to make bread; which we do often.

I worked for years and brought in extra income that allowed us to hold our heads above water but right now I can’t work. Right now, my job is to get health. This is my job, so that I can take care of other people; mom, my husband and these boys.

This was part of why I was self-employed; so that I could take the day off to take someone to the doctor, or when mom ended up in the ER in the middle of the night (which happens often) or fight the system in other ways. Right now I am working on a hearing to get the boys reinstated for insurance. Since “someone” in the system cancelled them, basing our income on a family of two, rather than a family of four. Odd, did they think the boys were on their own or did they think we just made kids up to get insurance and say, “What idiots they are, har har.” We would have qualified even as a family of three. And, for this, we will have to drive to Indianapolis, rather than providing proof of income here. Explain that one.

In the meantime, the sounds bites for today are that we have a sound economy. What world does McCain live in? ‘Cause it sure isn’t the one I inhabit.

Gas in Bloomington, Indiana is $4.25 a gallon. The whole midwest has the highest gas prices in the country. Take a look at the map of the whole US, showing prices, at Indiana Gas Prices. Where Ike struck, prices are in the $3.74 area, but Bloomington, Indiana and surrounding areas are $4.25.

I could not tell you about our Brown County gas prices, as Nashville did not have electricity yesterday. The boys went to school, from first period on, in the dark, all day. Just like McCain.